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Altered Experienced Thermoregulation in Depression—No Evidence for an Effect of Early Life Stress

Objectives: Accumulating evidence suggests that individuals with depression are characterised by difficulties in thermoregulatory cooling. The aim of this study was to investigate, for the first time, whether depressed individuals are aware of these alterations, what their physical consequences are...

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Autores principales: von Salis, Sarina, Ehlert, Ulrike, Fischer, Susanne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8333702/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34366905
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.620656
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author von Salis, Sarina
Ehlert, Ulrike
Fischer, Susanne
author_facet von Salis, Sarina
Ehlert, Ulrike
Fischer, Susanne
author_sort von Salis, Sarina
collection PubMed
description Objectives: Accumulating evidence suggests that individuals with depression are characterised by difficulties in thermoregulatory cooling. The aim of this study was to investigate, for the first time, whether depressed individuals are aware of these alterations, what their physical consequences are and whether they may be rooted in early life stress. Methods: A total of N = 672 medically healthy individuals from the general population were recruited to participate in an online survey. Participants were divided into depressed vs. non-depressed using the Patient Health Questionnaire. Experienced autonomic and behavioural thermoregulation as well as vigilance problems in response to temperature increases were assessed by the Experienced Temperature Sensitivity and Regulation Survey. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was administered to assess early life stress. Results: Controlling for age, sex, body mass index, and physical activity, depressed vs. non-depressed individuals did not differ in their experienced autonomic and behavioural responses to temperature increases. However, the depressed individuals reported comparably greater difficulties in concentrating and drowsiness/fatigue in warm environments (p = 0.029), during physical exertion (p = 0.029), and during stress (p < 0.001). There were no differences in the experienced thermoregulation between depressed individuals with vs. without early life stress. Conclusions: Depressed individuals experienced more severe physical impairments (i.e., greater vigilance problems) in response to intense warmth when compared to non-depressed individuals. These differences were not attributable to comorbid illnesses, the intake of medication, or physical deconditioning. Further enquiries in clinical populations are warranted to investigate to what extent the observed alterations map onto specific symptoms of depression (e.g., sleep disturbances).
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spelling pubmed-83337022021-08-05 Altered Experienced Thermoregulation in Depression—No Evidence for an Effect of Early Life Stress von Salis, Sarina Ehlert, Ulrike Fischer, Susanne Front Psychiatry Psychiatry Objectives: Accumulating evidence suggests that individuals with depression are characterised by difficulties in thermoregulatory cooling. The aim of this study was to investigate, for the first time, whether depressed individuals are aware of these alterations, what their physical consequences are and whether they may be rooted in early life stress. Methods: A total of N = 672 medically healthy individuals from the general population were recruited to participate in an online survey. Participants were divided into depressed vs. non-depressed using the Patient Health Questionnaire. Experienced autonomic and behavioural thermoregulation as well as vigilance problems in response to temperature increases were assessed by the Experienced Temperature Sensitivity and Regulation Survey. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was administered to assess early life stress. Results: Controlling for age, sex, body mass index, and physical activity, depressed vs. non-depressed individuals did not differ in their experienced autonomic and behavioural responses to temperature increases. However, the depressed individuals reported comparably greater difficulties in concentrating and drowsiness/fatigue in warm environments (p = 0.029), during physical exertion (p = 0.029), and during stress (p < 0.001). There were no differences in the experienced thermoregulation between depressed individuals with vs. without early life stress. Conclusions: Depressed individuals experienced more severe physical impairments (i.e., greater vigilance problems) in response to intense warmth when compared to non-depressed individuals. These differences were not attributable to comorbid illnesses, the intake of medication, or physical deconditioning. Further enquiries in clinical populations are warranted to investigate to what extent the observed alterations map onto specific symptoms of depression (e.g., sleep disturbances). Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-07-21 /pmc/articles/PMC8333702/ /pubmed/34366905 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.620656 Text en Copyright © 2021 von Salis, Ehlert and Fischer. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
von Salis, Sarina
Ehlert, Ulrike
Fischer, Susanne
Altered Experienced Thermoregulation in Depression—No Evidence for an Effect of Early Life Stress
title Altered Experienced Thermoregulation in Depression—No Evidence for an Effect of Early Life Stress
title_full Altered Experienced Thermoregulation in Depression—No Evidence for an Effect of Early Life Stress
title_fullStr Altered Experienced Thermoregulation in Depression—No Evidence for an Effect of Early Life Stress
title_full_unstemmed Altered Experienced Thermoregulation in Depression—No Evidence for an Effect of Early Life Stress
title_short Altered Experienced Thermoregulation in Depression—No Evidence for an Effect of Early Life Stress
title_sort altered experienced thermoregulation in depression—no evidence for an effect of early life stress
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8333702/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34366905
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.620656
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